The No-Fail Wedding Wire and The Knot Profile Writing Formula

For most wedding professionals, writing their Wedding Wire and the Knot profile blurbs is one of their most challenging tasks. Based on what most of us are paying for these profile listings, it is worth every minute of our time and energy to craft a truly mesmerizing profile. But how do we craft a profile blurb that is authentic, powerful, and effective?

“Copywriting is the art and science of writing to promote a product, a business, a person, or an idea. And carefully selecting, editing, weaving, and constructing those words in a way that they’ll persuade the reader into taking a specific and measurable action. ” -Copywriting.com

WHAT MAKES A WEDDING WIRE AND THE KNOT PROFILE EFFECTIVE?

In 2019, according to The Knot, the average amount a couple spent on wedding flowers was $2,000. The Knot also found that the average amount spent on a wedding dress in 2019 was $1,600. So the total spent on these two, purely aesthetic, things that make a wedding “sexy” was $3,600.

Wedding Wire found that the current average amount spent on a wedding officiant is $300. Wedding Wire averages tend to run lower than those published by The Knot and other sources like Thumbtack. Nevertheless, according to The Knot, the average amount spent on a wedding DJ/MC in 2020 was $1,200. So the total amount invested in these two functional things that will make or break the ceremony & reception was $1,500…less than half of what gets spent on “pretties.” 

We all know that sex sells and that people buy because of emotion, not because of logic. Pretty flowers & dresses are inherently emotional, inherently “sexy.” But these numbers show undeniably just how extremely important it is to create an emotional response and present a “sexy” product or service on our wedding profiles. Even those of us who sell not-so-sexy stuff, like signatures on marriage licenses and subwoofers, can invoke these “buy me now” feelings. 

YOU BETTER SELL SOMETHING WHICH ISN’T INNOCENT AT ALL…

On Seinfeld, when Elaine first met J. Peterman, she described the white cotton shirt she was wearing to him like this in order to be offered a copywriting job for his famous catalog:

“Oh, this innocent-looking shirt has something which isn’t innocent at all…touchability! Heavy, silky Italian cotton with a fine, almost terry-cloth-like, feel, five-button placket, relaxed fit…innocence and mayhem at once.” 

This is how we must describe our businesses on Wedding Wire & The Knot…with “touchability.” How? This profile writing formula will break down for you several basic foundational principles of both copywriting and branding.

ATTRACT YOUR IDEAL WEDDING COUPLE – REPEL THE REST

You must write to attract the clients you want to work with & repel the ones you don’t want. This means you need to know very clearly who your audience is–i.e. who your ideal client is. Write down a list of qualities and characteristics your ideal clients possess. See if you can identify who this DJ’s profile blurb is trying to attract and who it is trying to repel:

“My epic dance floor energy recipe? I spin those guilty-pleasure ‘everybody faves’ in a fresh way (yes, including country & Latin music) by creating my own remixes, sprinkling in a few ‘long lost loves,’ and mixing seamlessly to remove any dance-floor-emptying lulls.”

Does this DJ want to work with the indie music couples? No. This DJ spins “guilty-pleasure ‘everybody faves.’” Does this DJ want to work with couples that don’t plan on dancing after dinner and probably won’t even submit a playlist? Nope…this DJ delivers “epic dance floor energy.” Does this DJ want clients that like country music? Latin music? Yep…it was clearly spelled out.

2+2 INSTEAD OF 4

You might have heard that you need to be “telling brand stories” and that story-telling is effective marketing. But most of us are a little confused as to what stories we should be telling…and, worse, how to tell them. Let’s break it down.

In your Wedding Wire and The Knot Profile blurb, were you thinking about saying something along the lines of “I’m kind of a big deal”? Statements like these are what we’re going to call “4s.” They are final conclusions. They are spoon-feeding an outcome to the reader. By breaking down this “conclusion” (i.e. 4) into details strung together (i.e. 2+2) you’ll find that you’ve told a story. Instead of “telling,” show! For example, in this paragraph I’m telling you how to write–below I will show you.

4 = I’m a talented, experienced florist.

• 2+2= I’ve been a wedding florist since wearing flowers in your hair was cool the first time around (wink)…and I suppose you could say Enchanted Florist is a bit of a perennial because we’ve earned over 200 five-star reviews since then.

4 = Working with me is fun!

• 2+2 = Let me buy you some over-priced juice, a bowl of pho, or Italian gelato, and we’ll start plotting how YOUR WEDDING will take over the world…mwhaaa!

YOUR IDEAL WEDDING COUPLES ARE TIRED OF SAME-Y WORDS

“Boring copy is gonna kill your business. Know what makes your copy boring?… YOU’RE TOO DAMN POLITE. TOO FREAKING NICE. Yawn. And it makes your stuff crap to read. No offense. But it’s true, and we both know it.” 

-Marie Forleo, “The Copy Cure”

One way in which Wedding Wire and The Knot profiles become so freaking generic and stale is because business owners feel some weird impulse to sound “professional”–like our real, everyday vibes are not presentable. Some call this Imposter Syndrome. In an effort to appear “worthy of business,” all of the sudden business owners are trying to talk like “real” business owners. Oh my gawd–panic–what DO real business owners say about their businesses?!?!

YOU are a real business owner. You’re definitely not paying these wedding sites hundreds of dollars each month because you’re a fake business owner, now are you? That means the way you normally talk is perfectly acceptable for your Wedding Wire or The Knot blurb. For real. 

But one thing business owners do when suffering from Imposter Syndrome and writer’s block is open up the dictionary of overly-polite “too freaking nice” business lingo. Marie Forleo calls these “same-y words.” We think if we can describe our business with all these generic, meaningless terms and phrases that we’ll sound like a real business.

If you open the same-y words business dictionary (wedding industry edition), you’ll find gems like these:

• Professional
• Special celebration
• Award-winning
• It’s our goal to…
• You deserve to have the peace of mind of knowing that…
• Highest-quality
• Talented
• One of the best
• Perfect
• Skilled
• I’m [name], and I am the owner of…
• Our aim is to not only meet but to exceed your expectations. 
• Your vision
• Creating the perfect atmosphere
• [Company] has taken [what we sell] to another level and has raised the bar.
• We are a premier service dedicated to the success of your event!
• Your day, your way
• Personalized service
• Production team
• Passionate about music/photography/flowers/make-up
• Long-lasting memories

You must trade in the same-y words and phrases and replace them with authenticity and transparency. Yea, scary stuff, you’ll practically be naked with rawness on your profile! But, let’s remember you are trying to stand out on a list of businesses that do EXACTLY the same thing you do…same niche, same specialty, same area. Don’t expect to stand out in that crowd without a little soul searching.

BUT I STILL DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START WITH MY WEDDING WIRE AND THE KNOT PROFILES

If you really, truly do not know what your strengths are as a business, have no fear. Your previous clients have already written them down for you…in their Facebook and Google reviews, in their gushing post-wedding thank you emails, etc. Start gathering and reading these beauties and get in-touch with your inner wedding vendor.

QUICK SIDEBAR: Make a document with copies of all your reviews in one place. Categorize them by theme: organization, fun, professionalism, punctuality/responsiveness, guest reactions, etc. Not only will this help you get really clear on what your business does well, but the next time a potential client tells you they are concerned about disorganized vendors or how not-fun the officiant at their sister’s wedding was, you can just copy & paste all your “organized testimonials” or all your “fun testimonials” and shoot them back over in a quick email.

Download our NO-FAIL WEDDING WIRE and THE KNOT PROFILE WRITING FORMULA ⬇

We’d love to see your profile “before & after”s! Please share them with us at hello@bookmorebrides.com, by tagging us on social media, or by posting them in the Book More Brides Tribe Facebook group.